Press

If anything can prevent politicians from pandering to special interests and ignoring the public interest, then it is the vigilance of the "Fourth Estate".

The three traditional democratic powers (legislative, executive and judicial) are not kept sufficiently separate on the issue of software patents. Patent bureaucrats define the legislative policy of the EU Council on patents, and the European Patent Office has no higher judge than its own "customer complaints department". Under those circumstances, it is particularly important that the independent press, which has rightfully been dubbed "the Fourth Estate", informs the general public.

"Software patents are no longer an exotic topic." That quote is from the online edition of Germany's leading newsweekly "Der Spiegel" which reported on a demonstration against software patents in late June of 2004. Actually, software patents concern and potentially affect almost everyone. Almost every company and public administration uses computers, and most households have a computer (albeit a portable computer, which is what mobile phones are these days).

The potential consequences of software patents can be understood by most. Obviously the philosophical and legalistic debates on the patentability of software are no topics for large audiences. However, the importance of a competitive software market, the structural deficiencies of the patent system, the dangers of continued patent inflation and the might-makes-right function of software patents can be explained very well to many people. The effects of all of that on innovation, the economy and the job market are quite logical.

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